


Honor among archers

by Arienhod



Series: DCM [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-16
Updated: 2018-04-16
Packaged: 2019-04-23 18:05:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14338083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Arienhod/pseuds/Arienhod
Summary: After the police led Oliver away in handcuffs Felicity asked their new business partner, Tony Stark, if he could help somehow.Luckily he knew a guy.





	Honor among archers

**Author's Note:**

> Because the idea just refused to let me go.  
> Expect more, but probably not anytime soon.

Quentin Lance wished he was anywhere but here, but he wasn't exactly given a choice. His gaze moved up, towards the windows of the top floor of the three-story building, and a sigh escaped him. Sometimes he hated his job.

Two more cars stopped at the edge of the sidewalk, one of them blocking a fire hydrant, and uniformed policemen exited the vehicles. They all waited on his order to enter, and as he turned towards them he couldn't help but notice the construction site across the street. The large space was empty for years now, and then six months ago everything changed. The Queen family was denied ownership of the company, and it was handed to a third party. He would have expected that would be it. The story of the billionaire family was over. It wasn't.

The next day all newspapers in the city ran a story of a collaboration between Queen and Stark, one that resulted with new company being founded. Starling already had a few of those, but a bit competition was healthy. And good for economy, apparently. Once the location was selected Stark Industries made all the arrangements for a new headquarters building to be build, hiring several local construction companies, and then ensuring there were no cutting corners when it came to material used and security of workers.

And while that building was still at least half a year away from being completed, the new company set shop just across in an old brownstone building. He was there before, years ago, to arrest the owner for bigamy. Apparently the building's three apartments were connected so that no one could tell when he switched wives, apart of the wives.

"Let's go." he finally called, and walked up the stairs. He could see the front desk through the glass door, and was surprised the guard stationed there wasn't John Diggle.

Pushing the wrought iron door open Lance marched into open space and his eyes landed on the mirror with the company logo and name on the far wall, behind the front desk, and between two staircases. Not the usual decoration for a tech company, but he heard Tony Stark was eccentric. He probably wanted to be able to look in his reflection the moment he stepped in.

* * *

Felicity lookup up from the tablet in her hands just in time to see detective Lance, followed by several uniformed policemen, march past her brand new office towards the one at the end of the hallway. Instantly she abandoned the project she was working on, namely the buffing up of their security to ensure no one gets in their newly installed servers, and walked to Oliver's office to see what SCPD wanted.

She appeared on the doorway just in time to see Lance slapped handcuffs on her boyfriend's wrists as he recited the usual "You have the right to remain silent." speech.

This was not good. Felicity was well aware their company might be one of the most talked-about things in Starling right now, the moment the collaboration with Tony Stark was announced the buzz started; from people who saw it as employment opportunity to city elite, everyone talked about it. About the Queen heir getting back on his feet after losing the family company, about the blonde who used to work as a secretary but is actually a certified genius.

They were in the center of attention right now, and while it is said that any publicity is good publicity Felicity was pretty certain the company's CEO being arrested before they even properly began operating was something they did not need.

"Are we doing this again, detective?" Oliver asked with a sigh, "I was cleared of those charges two years ago. Remember that? When your accusation resulted in someone trying to kill me believing you were correct in your assumptions, while the actual vigilante was across the city dealing with criminals."

"I'll contact a lawyer." Felicity said, announcing her presence. Oliver's eyes bored into hers, and she could see annoyance and anger in them, but also worry. Last time he had a plan; get arrested, have Laurel to persuade the judge to put him under house arrest, host a huge party while Diggle is out there preventing a big gun sale, and watch as everyone say there isn't a possibility that party-boy Ollie Queen is the vigilante.

Now the things didn't happen according to plan. Cause if they did he wouldn't be taken out of the new company in handcuffs, but would leave in a few hours, hand in hand with Felicity, with just enough time for her to change in her apartment for them to be in time for their reservation.

He knew Felicity would contact Joan Loring, his mother's old friend, and explaining the defense attorney what was going on. The woman was good at what she did, after all she managed to get a 'not guilty' verdict for his mother, but depending on what the police had on him the hearing in front of the judge might not even happen today. It might be postponed until Monday, and he would be locked up in a holding cell for the whole weekend.

Usually that wouldn't be a problem. Diggle could do the rerun of the plan from two years ago and he would have another idiot-proof alibi. But his partner was helping his wife with a thing and would be unreachable. He didn't specify, and Oliver didn't ask. Frankly he didn't want to know. Just like he didn't want to know what Roy was doing with his sister in London, where they went to visit Walter. But since he was all the way there it also meant he couldn't put on the green suit and assist him either.

His only remaining hope is his brilliant girlfriend.

"It was an anonymous tip." Lance revealed to Felicity when the uniforms left with Oliver, and he seemingly stayed to ask her some questions.

"Was it a phone call? E-mail?" she was already making plans on how to locate whoever contacted the police and figure out if it was a genuine threat, or if someone was just trying to sabotage them and the company.

"It was old school envelope with photos. Your boy had his hood on, but the way the photo was taken is showing more of his facial features than your usual Bigfoot-style photos we had so far of the vigilante. It was delivered in plain brown envelope, nothing special about it. There was no note inside." the detective was honest about what they had, making it unnecessary for her to hack into the police servers and find out what the evidence against Oliver was.

And there wasn't much to begin with. But the police chief was eager to have the opportunity to hold a press conference and say they have the vigilante in custody. He was grasping for straws just to keep his position after his men failed to prevent another disaster in the city. Sure, they didn't stand a chance against Slade's army of supersoldiers, but it still looked bad in the eyes of the public. It made them look incompetent, him in particular since he was in charge.

Once Lance left, and Felicity waved their CFO away with the promise she'll let him know what was going on as soon as possible, she called Joan Loring to see if the woman was willing to represent Oliver. She of course agreed to it instantly.

Felicity's second call was a bit more long-distance. Namely to the east coast where the Stark Industries headquarters were located.

A woman answered the call, something that surprised her momentarily, before she remembered the redhead that kept Tony in line back when she was an intern in his company. She heard Victoria Potts had since been promoted to serious girlfriend.

"Miss Potts, this is Felicity Smoak. Is Mr. Stark available?"

" _No need with the formalities, Lis."_  Tony suddenly took over the other side of the conversation,  _"What can I do for you? Is that boyfriend of yours bothering you, cause I know a guy that could kick his ass."_

"Actually, I am calling because of Oliver." she admitted.

A confused  _"Oh?"_  was heard from the other side, before Tony asked gravely, _"What happened?"_

"He was just arrested. The police came in possessions of some photos that could possibly incriminate him." Felicity didn't want to go into details over the phone, she wasn't sure if they had a tap on her line. Tony probably had a secured line by default, but she wasn't as paranoid as him, although she probably ought to be considering the business she was in... both of them.

" _Sit tight."_ she heard their business partner say, before he mumbled something to his girlfriend, something Felicity couldn't hear, _"Have you guys moved in?"_

"Yes." Felicity replied, knowing he wasn't talking about the company's office building, but what lied underneath it. It was why they chose this particular three-story building. It wasn't the best solution, but after just a few adjustments, like closing two unneeded front doors and creating open-floor concept on the ground floor, they had a decent space for a start-up company.

Tony was talking about the large basement that was a remnant from the prohibition, and was later turned into a shelter during the cold war. It had several exits, all carefully concealed and locked with keypads, thick concrete walls and was much larger than the Foundry. Main entrance from the building was hidden in plain sight. Before it was a bookshelf. Now it was a one-way mirror with the company logo etched to the surface.

Since making a decision to move they had updated the air ducts, wiring, and went off the city's electricity grid thanks to Tony donating one of his arc reactors. The med bay was better stocked, and didn't have everything from stashed in a toolbox with an old unreliable defibrillator on top, but in a tall cabinet. There was a big training area, with a setup on the far wall for archery practice, and a salmon ladder to the side cause that was a necessity. Her computer station was in the center of the main space and elevated so she had clear sight of everything, or as Roy liked to say 'so she could keep an eye on the kids'.

A new addition was a round glass conference table that Oliver initially said they didn't need. He was the first one to drop two bags of food on it after a long day of setting everything up. It wasn't Big Belly Burgers. It was shawarma.

" _Expect a visit tonight. It's about to get fun."_ Tony said before disconnecting, and Felicity right away concluded he would fly to Starling himself, although exactly how he would help she wasn't sure.

She got her explanation a few hours later when an unknown man appeared in her office and introduced himself as Hawkeye.

* * *

It was a quarter to seven and Felicity was getting ready to go to work when the front door of her apartment opened and a ragged looking Oliver walked in. Instantly she was by his side, not asking what happened just yet, but making sure he was unharmed.

It's been three years now since they started the whole vigilante business, and have helped reduced the crime and corruption in the city, dealt with the most dangerous gangs and criminals. But one group remained as dirty as before. The police force.

She knew some of the sleaziest criminals hid behind the shield, it wasn't exactly a secret in the city no matter how many times the chief claimed they cleaned house, and she was worried one of those tried to harm or even kill Oliver while he was in custody. It would be a perfect opportunity to get rid of the one person that went against scum like them on regular basis. Forget that there wasn't any actually incriminating evidence against him. They weren't exactly working by the book, but shot first and asked questions later.

"I wasn't harmed. Just really tired. Haven't slept a wink." he finally spoke, his voice wavered as he swayed on his legs.

"Did you take a cab here? Why haven't you called me? I would have picked you up." she was talking while leading him to her bedroom. Once there she took off his shoes and business suit that was now rumpled and had a few stains on it. Once he was in nothing but boxers she forced him to lie down, sat on the edge of the bed, and ran her hand through his short hair, "You can rest now. You are home. You are safe. I won't let anyone hurt you."

"Lance said the Arrow was active last night." drowsy voice told Felicity her boyfriend was half-asleep, but was fighting it for the sake of getting answers, "Stopped a robbery and... and... How?"

"There is honor among archers."

Oliver furred his brows in confusion, but didn't say anything. He was already asleep.

* * *

Felicity watched the two men measure each other like two feral cats, before they gradually agreed the other is dangerous but can be trusted. The fact that Tony Stark guaranteed for agent Barton helped ease Oliver's suspicion of the man who had free range of their lair, and who apparently wore his suit and got him an alibi for last night.

"What kind of agent are you anyway?" Oliver finally asked. He had an issue with government agencies; most would want him arrested seeing as he is a vigilante, and then there is one who would very much prefer to have him back in their director's claws.

"I work for SHIELD." Clint answered, and upon receiving a blank look from them elaborated, "It stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistic Division. Founded shortly after World War II, as a counter-terrorism and intelligence agency."

"Reminds me a lot of ARGUS." Oliver commented sourly.

"We have an elite team called-."

"So do they." Felicity interrupted, "The Suicide Squad."

" _Sounds charming."_  a voice coming from the computer speakers startled them all, and they turned to see Tony Stark's grinning face on the screen,  _"Listen here Robin Hood... Hawkeye there might try and recruit you, he does that a lot apparently. Tried with me, as did his girlfriend, but I don't play well with others. Except Pepper. She tolerates me. Anyway, while you would without a doubt be an asset to this team they named Avengers, not sure yet what they are avenging though, need I remind you that you have responsibility to Starling and QSS Enterprise. Hear that Barton? You can't have him!"_

Clint just rolled his eyes. Stark was brilliant, but he was a bit paranoid when it came to government. Not that he could blame him, considering the constant pressure he is under to release the plans for the Iron Man suit.

"Wouldn't dream of getting him away from his city." the agent replied, "This place is like a magnet for trouble. We might have to set up a base here just in case. The police is outnumbered and outgunned."

Just then the second screen, one that was constantly airing the Starling News network, flashed with Breaking News logo before the feed switched to the podium in front of Palmer Tech building. Moments later Ray Palmer stepped behind it and proudly announced his company's newest product.

Tony, who got access to the feed when he entered the bunker's system, wasn't impressed. He snorted before saying,  _"Don't see what the big deal is. Made that for SHIELD some three years ago. Didn't get a press conference."_

"Speaking of things you made..." Felicity bit her lip and turned to glance at Oliver, "Did you by any chance had the opportunity to review what I sent you?"

" _The new Robin Hood suit? Yeah. It looks good, but I'll tweak it a bit. Got some ideas of my own on how to improve it."_  Tony's words shocked Oliver.

"New suit?" he looked at Felicity, but she didn't elaborated. Didn't get the chance. Tony beat her to it.

" _Better protection. Current one is shit. You can keep the hood, Lis said it was important."_

"It is." Oliver replied.

And it was. It was a reminder, a memento. He wore it to honor those who turned him into an archer. But it didn't make him who he was. No piece of cloth had that power. He was the Arrow because of what he did, not what he wore. Still, the thought of replacing it made him queasy. Maybe someday. Just not yet.

As if aware of his inner struggle Felicity chose to change the subject and instead focused on her own field of expertise, "What kind of technology does SHIELD has at its disposal? Any satellites?"


End file.
